I help my clanmates search the camp, calling Lightningkit's name again and again. But there's no sign of her. She must have snuck out. My brain fills with horrific images. A hawk or a fox could have gotten her. She could be lying limp and broken by the road, like Jerry, or wandered into the landfill, where she'd be easy prey to swarms of rats. Or maybe she's on another clan's territory. Surely no warrior would hurt a kit, but…
"I'll lead a search party going toward the thunderpath," Tigerstar meows authoritatively. "Wetfoot, Nightwhisper, Dawncloud, you're with me. Nettlethorn, you can lead another group in the direction of WindClan. Take Fernshade, Tangleburr, and Russetfur."
My three friends race up to me. "We'll find her," Fernshade says, though her green eyes are clouded with worry.
As soon as we're out of camp, we all put our noses to the ground and sniff deeply. I taste the air desperately for any trace of Lightningkit's scent. It takes some circling and backtracking, but eventually Russetfur cries, "I found the trail!" The ginger she-cat is nosing a pile of pine needles.
"Thank StarClan," Tangleburr meows as we all pick up the warm, milky smell.
One of the reasons I like Lightningkit so much is that she don't do things halfway. Not eatin', not playin', and definitely not explorin'. We follow her scent down a path that don't see too many pawsteps. Fernshade finds a kit-sized footprint on the edge of a boggy patch of ground just below a small rise. I'm just glad she didn't fall in. Boulder says some of that mud can be dangerous for a kit; it can suck 'em down and drown 'em.
My heart beats faster when we find some fresh dog droppings. Looks like a big dog too, based on the size of the pile. Lightningkit would have no chance against somethin' like that. I comfort myself with the thought that at least no cat smells blood.
"We have to report this to Tigerstar," Russetfur says.
As we pass through a narrow alley of trees, I swivel my ears. I can just barely hear a thin, plaintive cry. "Help! Someone, please get me out of here!"
"Lightningkit!" I exclaim, relief almost knockin me off my paws. If she's callin' for help, she ain't dead or (probably) too badly hurt.
"It's coming from that way," Tangleburr says, darting off to the left.
Lightningkit's scent gets stronger as we follow her, but I also pick up another sour, musky reak. "What in the Dark Forest is that?" I hiss.
"Badger," Fernshade says, her tortoiseshell fur bristling. "But it's old. We drove a badger off our territory last leaf-bare."
At the bottom of a short slope, we stop before a hole in the ground. I peer down it but can only see darkness. "Lightningkit?" I call. "You stuck down there?"
"Yes, I can't find my way out," the kit mewls.
"I'm comin'. Tangleburr, would you come with me while Russetfur and Fernshade stand watch?"
"It's your patrol," Russetfur meows, sitting on her haunches and swiping her tongue around her muzzle.
Ain't no part of me that wants to go in that abandoned badger set. It makes me think of twoleg cages and the rank, narrow alley where Bone kept us. And I get the feeling, weird but completely certain, that this won't be the last time somethin' bad goes down underground. But I slide down with Tangleburr, ignoring the way the dank earth walls press close, like they want to swallow us.
The good thing is, badgers are apparently big. We're able to walk side by side down the passage, though the old stench is almost overwhelming. We find Lightningkit huddled at the bottom of the set, her ginger-and-white fur matted with leaves and mud. She holds her swollen right forepaw off the ground, but it don't look broken, only sprained.
"Why did you sneak out of camp?" I ask sternly as Tangleburr licks her soothingly. "I'm glad you're safe, but look at the mess we all in now, with the whole clan out lookin' for you. I reckon Tigerstar ain't gonna be best pleased."
"I'm s-sorry," Lightningkit stammers. "I just… Tigerstar said Rowankit and Cedarkit are ready to become apprentices. I thought if I explored our territory and did something really brave, I could be an apprentice too. Brokenstar let kits become apprentices early if they were strong enough. I hate being the only kit in the nursery."
I lick the little scrap on the head. "I understand why you did it, but it's still wrong, Lightningkit. You could've gotten hurt in a big way. There's a reason kits gotta wait till they're six moons. Be glad you can spend this time playin' around with nothin' to worry about. I didn't have that when I was little." Tangleburr keeps her eyes fixed on her paws, and I know my friend is rememberin' her loyalty to Brokenstar.
I pick her up by the scruff, and we walk back up the tunnel. Fernshade and Russetfur purr in relief when we come out into the sunlight. My three friends volunteer to stay behind and fill in the hole. I think about askin' one of 'em to come back to camp with me on account of that dog we smelled, but I don't. My paws feel light as air as I walk back through the marshes and pine woods of my new home.
Lightningkit asks me to put her down a few cat-lengths from the camp. She winces when her injured paw meets the ground but manages to limp forward. "I'm going to be in big trouble, aren't I?"
"No doubt about it. But if you take your scolding like a warrior, this will pass. You won't be a kit forever. You'll be an amazing ShadowClan warrior before you can blink, one your parents and littermates will be proud of."
"When I'm an apprentice, I want you to be my mentor," Lightningkit meows.
"We'll see what Tigerstar decides, but I'd like that too. He might pick a more experienced warrior though," I say. But I want it more than I realized until now.
Rowanberry's the first one to spot us. "You're back! Nettlethorn's found her!" the brown-and-white she-cat yowls.
My clanmates press around us, trying to lick and nuzzle us both at once. "Y'all get out the way," I snap. "She needs a medicine cat."
"Kits these days, getting into trouble every other heartbeat," Flintfang growls as Runningnose sniffs Lightningkit anxiously.
"Don't make me ask Blackfoot and Fernshade what you got up to as a kit, you grumpy old furball," I say. Our deputy, who overheard the exchange, gives a mrrow of laughter at his brother's expense.
But the best part is when Nightwhisper shoulders his way through the crowd, purring loudly. "You're amazing!" he exclaims. We don't need to say more. Our spat is behind us.
In the quiet of dusk, Tigerstar calls a clan meeting. "Cats of ShadowClan, gather here beneath the Clanrock for a clan meeting!" The words, once strange, are now comforting.
"First of all, I'd like to express my gratitude and admiration for all the warriors who helped in the search for Lightningkit earlier today. We owe special thanks to Nettlethorn, Tangleburr, Fernshade, and Russetfur, who found her trapped in a badger set and brought her back home safely."
Tigerstar's praise warms me from ears to tail-tip as the clan calls our names. Boulder purrs and licks my ear affectionately. The scratch on my cheek suddenly don't matter at all.
Once the clamor dies down, Tigerstar continues, "One of the greatest duties of a clan leader is preparing kits to become the warriors who will ensure our clan's survival for seasons to come. Tonight, it's time for two kits to begin their training." Rowankit and Cedarkit step forward. Rowankit is grave and stoic, but his brother trembles with excitement.
"Cedarkit, you have reached your sixth moon and shall now become an apprentice of ShadowClan. From now until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Cedarpaw. Russetfur, I trust you to pass on your intelligence and loyalty to this apprentice, serving as his mentor until his training is complete." Cedarpaw squeals in delight as he touches noses with the ginger she-cat.
"Rowankit, you too are ready to begin your training. From now until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Rowanpaw. Jaggedtooth, you will mentor Rowanpaw, passing on your courage and battle skills to this young cat."
Happiness floods every hair of my pelt as my friend's new apprentice greets him with almost comical dignity. Jaggedtooth will be a great teacher, and if Tigerstar picked him for Rowanpaw, I might get to mentor Lightningkit.
"Rowanpaw! Cedarpaw!" Newtspeck starts the chant. Lightningkit takes it up, running over to cheer her foster brothers. Any jealousy or loneliness she might have felt is eclipsed by the joy of the ceremony.
I find Jaggedtooth and twine my tail with his. "Congratulations," I purr. "You'll be an awesome mentor."
"Thanks," he says, still sounding a little stunned. "I had no idea Tigerstar was even considering me until he called me into his den after the search parties got back."
"Look," I say quickly, 'cause I gotta just get it over with, "I'm sorry 'bout what I said a few days ago. I wouldn't have done what you did, but I know you were just thinkin' of the clan." Oakpaw's nearby, chattering excitedly with his new denmates, so I ain't gonna be more specific than that.
"All I wanted was for you to understand and not be so suspicious all the time," Jaggedtooth says. "I'm glad we made up, Nettlethorn. I missed you these last few days."
"You two obviously earned your prey for today," Nightwhisper meows, comin' over with a pair of frogs for us three to share.
That's a new rule of Tigerstar's, one he announced when he got back from the Moonstone. If warriors and apprentices fall short in hunting or battle training, they don't get to eat that day. This ain't my favorite rule. I miss the freedom and trust of an unguarded fresh-kill pile, and I don't think a bad day means you oughtta starve. But I just shrug and tuck into my piece of frog. I ain't clan leader, so it ain't my decision.
"We'll both get apprentices soon, Nettlethorn," my littermate predicts. "Every cat knows you and Lightningkit are apt to get paired up."
"You really think so?" I ask, delighted by the thought.
"Course," Jaggedtooth purrs. "You've taught that little ball of fluff half your hunting moves already."
"More like three-quarters," Nightwhisper says.
I laugh as Rowanpaw bounds up to his new mentor and asks breathlessly when they can start training. Only now do I realize how my fight with the two cats I love most in this world was cuttin' me inside, a thorn in my heart. Thank StarClan or whoever's out there that I let 'em persuade me to come to the forest with Tigerstar. But as I watch Jaggedtooth and Rowanpaw leave camp with tails high and eyes shining, I remember the conversation I overheard between him and Boulder. My heart twists painfully again. Will I have to choose between them? And if so, can I stay friends with the one I don't take as a mate? I can't imagine life without either of 'em.